decolonization through peregrination

schreibt Viktor E. Frankl: Die Selbst-Transendenz menschlicher Existenz läßt sich am besten erläutern an Hand des Auges. Ist Ihnen jemals die Paradoxie aufgefallen, daß die Fähigkeit des Auges, die Welt wahrzunehmen, abhängig ist von seiner Unfähigkeit, sich selbst wahrzunehmen? Wann sieht denn das Auge sich selbst oder etwas  von sich selbst? Doch nur, wenn es erkrankt ist, Wenn ich an einem grauen Star leide, dann nehme ich ihn in Form eines Nebels wahr, den ich sehe, und wenn ich an einem grünen Star erkrankt bin, dann sehe ich, rings um die Lichtquellen, einen Hof von Regenbogenfarben.  So oder so, in dem Maße, in dem das Auge etwas von sich selbst seit, ist das Sehen auch schon gestört. Das Auge muss sich selbst übersehen können. Und genauso verhält es sich mit dem Menschen.  Je mehr er sich selbst übersieht, je mehr es sich selbst vergißt, indem er sich hingibt einer Sache oder anderen Menschen, desto mehr ist er Mensch, desto mehr verwirklicht er sich selbst. Erst die Selb

 A little story on destiny and picking fast horses goes like this: "A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so that he could make haste and flee to Teheran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off on the horse. On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here, when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran,” said Death."                                                                                                          From Viktor Frankl's book "Man's search for meaning"

... on leaving hell and heaven. My passport was returned to me on the 22ed of December. Without a visa. The German consulate (who called me after my poor mother phoned them in Kinshasa to help her daughter leave the country for X-mas) was unable to take any action, but reassured me that this kind of thing happens all the time, that I most likely would have to pay someone, hope that they don't make me miss my airplane, and that I had the option to call them back if I do miss it, until midnight. Thanks guys. Turned out that our wonderful chauffeur Feli, knew the guy that usually helped us get through the airport -Dede. They went to primary school together. Dede on the other hand knew the head guy from customs - and came in on his day off to "introduce us"...   so an early arrival on the 23ed, lunch with the two guys, loads of patience, waiting here and smiles there ... and an amount to thank them after we got the stamp in our passports and through the security check

“The experience of [concentration] camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability supressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. And there were always choices to make, Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner free

Richtig toller Einblick: Kulturkrieger in Kinshasa! ZDF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prFQMMSoYSU

Great visual insight on what is going on in the East of the Congo from Vice.   Auch mit deutschem Untertitel! Doku über den Ost-Kongo: Conflict Minerals, Rebels and Child Soldiers in Congo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYqrflGpTRE "Congo is one of the most under-reported stories of the world. And now we understand why. It is so insanely complicated that its hard to see where to start. We did, however, see some progress. But it is a fragile progress, where anyone with a gun and an agenda can basically have his own little kingdom. So until the government in Kinshasa takes control of its territory, and shows that its army is the only one operating in the jungle, Congo will continue to be a war-zone. And instead of being a blessing, the minerals that fuel this conflict, will continue to be a curse".  

The Congo experience has left me an aid-sceptic. Too much harm and not enough good has come out of the outside 'well-meaning' involvement into affairs they do not take the time to understand. Furthermore, accountability of most NGO rests with donors far way from the place of action... and comprehension. Last but not least, Schumacher's argument on the general philosophy on aid should lead us to think in other ways about what we go out to work on as development practitioners.  He writes (in Small is beautiful) : "Could it be that the relative failure of aid, or at least our disappointment with the effectiveness of aid, has something to do with our materialist philosophy which makes us liable to overlook the most important preconditions of success, which are generally invisible? Or if we do not entirely overlook them, we tend to treat them just as we treat material things – things that can be planned and scheduled and purchased with money according to some all-comp

  We made it out of the DRC and were just on time for X-mas.   It will take some time to 'digest' it all. As before, Gerard Prunier   (Af rica’s World War: Congo, the Rawandan Genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe , 2008) helps to shed light on the situation (including the craziness we went through to leave) the Congo, when he writes: “With an insufficient tax base and a negative balance of trade, public finances still rely heavily on aid (over 40 percent). Whatever is not in the peasant self-produced and nearly nonmonetary sector of the economy is under direct foreign perfusion. The only services available to the people are foreign-created, foreign-run, and foreign-financed. The UN and NGOs together spend $3 billion a year running hospitals, providing transport, paying the army, and supporting the school system. The only media organ with a national reach, Radio Okapi, is a UN-NGOs joint venture. One of the main problems of this aid, and a problem typic